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SUMMARY:Calcium beyond the cytosol\; regulation of apoplastic and vacuolar
  calcium is required for plant productivity and stress tolerance - Profess
 or Roger Leigh\, Director of the Waite Research Institute\, University of 
 Adelaide
DTSTART:20110713T113000Z
DTEND:20110713T123000Z
UID:TALK32032@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Alex Webb
DESCRIPTION:Plants often take up nutrients in excess of their immediate ne
 eds and store the extra in cell vacuoles. There is good evidence that the 
 nutrient storage pools in different leaf cell-types are compositionally di
 stinct. For instance\, phosphate and calcium appear to never co-localise i
 n the same cell whereas magnesium\, potassium\, chloride and nitrate may s
 hare similar cellular locations but can be at very different concentration
 s in different cells.\n\nWe have recently conducted a survey of leaves fro
 m 30 phylogenetically distinct species and discovered two “evolutionary 
 conserved” patterns of cell-specific calcium distribution. In grasses\, 
 vacuolar calcium is present at high concentrations in epidermal cells but 
 undetectable in mesophyll cells. In contrast\, in many eudicot species cal
 cium is at a high concentration in the palisade and spongy mesophyll cells
  but undetectable in epidermal cells. At present\, the mechanisms behind t
 hese patterns in Ca distribution\, and their physiological significance\, 
 are unclear. Such knowledge may be fundamental to our understanding of how
  plants function and should ultimately allow the nutritional enhancement o
 f crop plants (and consequently fortification of animal and human diets) w
 ithout adversely affecting crop plant physiology.\n
LOCATION:Large Lecture Theatre\, Department of Plant Sciences
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